TWI275285B - A communication device for supporting multiple payment alternatives for communication services - Google Patents

Abstract

Method and apparatus for use in a variety of communications systems providing one or more payment alternatives for communication services and automatically selecting of a group of alternative payment techniques while significantly reducing the amount of interactive activity required from the user. Upon entry of a request to establish communications between calling and called electronic devices, the system initially looks towards a primary service provider. Absent acceptance of the request for service by the primary service provider, for whatever reason, the system automatically reverts to an alternative service provider and/or payment provider by searching data provided by the user and coupled to the electronic device for which a communication link is requested, eliminating the need for any further input by the user in the form of redialing the call, providing data through insertion of a debit or credit card, for example, identifying the alternative payment provider. The data identifying alternative service/payment providers may be contained in a card or chip removably insertable into the electronic device or in a storage device incorporated therein. Capability may be provided for choosing the most economic service/payment provider to be selected for honoring the request for service.

Description

0) 1275285,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for scheduling payment of a communication service. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically selecting a payment source from a plurality of alternative payment sources while substantially reducing and/or exempting the user from making a selection operation for further input. Although the present invention is well suited for use in a communication system consisting of a mobile phone, it is also applicable to a wide variety of electronic devices such as laptops, portable data assistants (PDAs), internet appliances, and any electronic device. Device. In general, the present invention can be used as long as the electronic device must establish a communication link with another device or service via a link that would not normally be used and/or require payment for its use of the item. Although the primary application is for the radio frequency (RF) link of the device requiring the service and the device for the other service, as will be explained in more detail below, the second (four) link is required. It is not necessarily a link from the device to a particular access point. The field of application of the present invention is to process payments for overnight services in an online, automated and instant manner. One of the typical communication links is the telephone user (4) the communication between the paging user and the paged user by the link operated by the special company. The communication link fee can be paid to the service provider company using a variety of different technologies. For example, the mobile phone (or U-box) user can

1275285 1 (2) Provide the company to set the cost of the key to deal with. The service contract. a service provider company that is required by the service provider user to establish a fee for the communication link of the paging user to the paging user.

The terms of the contract are directly borne by the service provider. When the paging user operates in the local hive unit where the user is located, the service provides the full cost of the service. Alternatively, when the paging user roams at the remote cellular unit and the required communication link must be established by the terminal cellular unit and the local cellular unit of the user, the communication link All costs may be shared by the local cellular unit and the remote cellular unit. In this case, the user service provider may collect the full cost of the user and share the cost of the communication link with the remote cellular unit.

The service contract may be fixed at a specific service amount' and part of the charge is deducted for each required service; or the service contract may be charged in a specific period (also It is calculated by the total amount of service in 'monthly calculations', and the user will receive service bills on a regular basis. The communication link payment can be carried out via an electronic wallet, wherein the money-related information is stored in the electronic device, one of which has been described in U.S. Patent 5,221,838. Briefly, the e-wallet contains a memory for storing information related to the user, such as an account number, a PIN number, a service provider company identity (eg, a credit card company, a communication service provider, etc.); Information that is automatically connected to the service provider to enable the user to conduct transactions. The fee for the service that has been requested (3) !275285 can be deducted from the user's debit card, or can be entered into the user's credit card account. The communication service can be credited to the payment card or debit card held by the user: and a service payment module 4 is provided by the following method: magnetic reading through the keypad or connected to the electronic device (ie, the phone) The machine manually inputs the account information used by: or is provided orally to the financial institution that sponsors the debit or debit card service. If a debit card is used, the cost of the service can be deducted from the current balance. If the credit card is used, the customer will receive the bill after the offline service and after the service has been provided. The sponsoring company of the Haikou debit card or credit card will be responsible for payment to the service providers that provide the communication link (if the paging and the group being called are in the same local hive unit, then the service is provided earlier) The company; if one or both of the paging and paging groups are in the roaming mode, and the service provider company other than the basic cellular unit of the user is required to provide services, there will be more than one service providing company). Another payment procedure is that the other party pays (that is, the paging group requires and the source to establish a money path, and the money-step (4) service provider to charge the paged group for the communication link), It is often used: a communication link between two telephone users or mobile phone users. Some service providers (such as telephone companies) will provide services when they receive _phone=exchange, and this will be offline. The communication key and cost are recorded in the customer's bill. There is another type of service payment technology that users can agree to receive advertising • 9 * (4) 1275285, % to exchange communication services costs to absorb.

The cost of the communication link is used by the advertising company for various types of technology to supplement the production for the overnight service payment. However, the most obvious shortcoming in the technology is the right payment mode and type of all kinds of payment. They are all closed and independent of each other. For example, cow 1 』 wood. For any reason, the user of the service is required to use the alternative payment mode instead of the payment method. For example, suppose a user of a mobile phone network tries to perform a Ding live and the service is unknown.

If the reason is rejected, then the user who tries to i-step, s-slide map and requires the communication link must personally start and take action to let the communication network buckle #外杜, 难 巧巧 know the alternative payment mode. In the examination of Figure 1, a more detailed example of the technical disadvantages of the prior art can be found. The figure shows a global mobile communication system (gsm) type communication network in which the user is equipped with a The mobile phone 12 receives the user identity recognition module (SIM) card 14 from the mobile phone 12. The user has a service contract with the service provider company. The user-specified mobile phone 12 is roaming in the visited Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) 16, which is remote from the users.

Ground PLMN 18. The cost of the call is handled in accordance with the terms of the service contract, so the user seeking to communicate with the paged user (not shown) must initiate a call to transmit the payment provider company information on the SIM card 14 to the interviewee. The PLMN 16, as shown in step S1. This SIM information can be used to pick up the local PLMN, step S2. In step S3, the local PLMN 18 queries the account status of the service contract used by the action unit 12. When the service providing company 2 finds the right to be billed at step S4, the authorization is transmitted through the local PLMN 18. This authorization will be transmitted to the visited PLMN at step -10· 1275285 (5) S5.

The call is established by the mobile device 2 and the called group (not shown) (which may be another mobile phone assigned to the same PLMN as the PLMN of the mobile phone, or may be the public) Between a telephone in the switched telephone network (PSTN). The call is now established as shown in step S6. After the gentleman's conversation with the child, the billing information and invoice will be forwarded through the local PLMN 8, + step S7; the local PLMN 18 will transmit the bill to the service provider 20 in step S8. The example is to complete the action if the service provider authorizes the service. However, if the service provider refuses to bill the call (for example, when the paging group has been unable to provide a payment method with the service, the technology cannot be operated. If the method is no longer operational, the technology can alert the The paging group loses the call and delays the request. It will cause the communication link between the members of the communication system to have no payment method according to the service contract set by the action unit, but the method may be here. And the above mentioned. However, if the user of the main communication service must adopt the contract limit; or whatever the original contact, then the primary and only paging group will ignore the main payment and still hope. The existing incoming payment card number when making a call. This technique would hinder the manual entry of an alternate payment call and the call. Although the main users proposed in this example and the provider of the service should be aware of the system, if any of the other payment methods of the payment method cannot be operated, it is required to provide (6) (6) 1275285 In any other alternative manner, the user may not be able to complete the content when the alternative or no alternative is not available. The present invention may automatically select one of two or more payment methods. / or select more than two users with the user (and / or the user device payment) to solve the problem of the prior art = when the call is completed, ί can take - the main or The preferred payment method: For any reason, the main payment method cannot be used. The technology of the invention will automatically enable the next available payment alternative. Staying and the technology is also invalid and there are other alternatives to payment (4) The present invention will continue to try these alternatives. Automatic selection of each successive payment a replacement can eliminate the excessive delay caused by the prior art. Since the prior art has to remind the user that the user is required to have additional secondary information), the present invention can greatly improve the feasibility of living in comparison with the current technology; and the paging group can be shortened. The time taken to occupy the communication link before the call is established. The present invention also allows the operating company of the roaming network to agree to automatically connect the second = two to more than one local network. In the case of a specific service or paging group agreement. Embodiments of the present invention are not shown in the flow of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the same communication system is used, wherein the same components are By the same symbol, t^ 讦君丨 is not shown. In step 81 of the example shown here, an attempt is made to start -12-

1275285 The mobile unit 12 making the call transmits information from the SIM card to the network. Since the mobile unit 12 is roaming in the visited PLMN 16, the SIIvt information received by the PLMN 16 is used to retrieve the local plmN 18. In the example shown here, the initial payment method does not work. For example, the reason for the inability to operate may be rejected, timed out, or unable to access the local PLMN. Step S3 will deliver this failure condition to the PLMN 16.

In the specific embodiment shown in FIG. 2, there is a non-essential feature that the visited PLMN confirms that the SIM information includes an alternative payment method other than the pre-arranged payment method of the user processing action unit 12, In the case of the alternative payment method, in addition to the payment provider's approval, the user must provide an authorization request. This authorization request can be as simple as "quasi" or "not allowed". * You can enter "OK" by pressing the Γ" button in the keypad 12a, or by pressing the "2" button. quasi". The request is made in step S4. The action unit 12 can reply or disagree with the authorization. The user is not required to restart the call when the approval is made.

Assuming that the authorization has been completed in step S5, the visited pLMN will transfer the transfer request to the payment providing company in step S6, in which case the payment providing company provides the company 22 for the debit card. In step S7, the transfer card mentions that the company will transfer the transfer authorization to the visited PLMN 16. At the step s8, the visited PLMN will establish a call between the paging action list and the paged one (not shown). When the call is completed, the visited PLMN 16 will decide the transfer amount 'and transfer the transfer bill to the transfer card in step (4) A to provide the company step S paste on the visited track MN 16 and the Transfer card touch company μ -13· 1275285

(8) Intermediation. An alternative to the above technique is that when the contractual agreement between the debit card providing company 22 and the processor of the mobile unit 12 does not require ^ = the paging group must authorize when using the pager's debit card, Steps S4 and S5 can be omitted, and the visited PLMN 16 will directly perform the transfer request at step %, and the subsequent steps 87 to 89 will be performed in the same manner as described above in an appropriate procedure. / In the example of Figure 2, the offering company 22 may also be a credit card providing company, the user's internet service provider or e-wallet provider, and any of the other examples described above. A further alternative to the configuration of Figure 2 is that the SIM card μ may contain information to identify a better payment provider and more than one alternative payment provider. In this case, the automatic technique proposed in the flowchart shown in Fig. 3 can be used to select one of the payment methods. The system user must start the implementation of the method shown in FIG. 3 as shown in FIG. 2, for example, to initiate a one-way call, so that the receiver (eg, PLMN 16) in the network can receive the step in the si〇 , ,, from the ΤΧ / Γ ^ / outer armor breaks the SIM information conveyed to PLMN 16. After the SIM information is checked, 栝7μ^^丁义傻 can judge whether or not to perform SIM access in step S11. When agreeing to enter the left, . When the access is delayed, the program design proceeds to step S12, and the system is started to catch the call, and the connection is established. The method of establishing the method will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 4, assuming that the access is not agreed. The program design proceeds to step S13 to extract the data of the next preferred payment providing company in step S13 by taking the sand Α Α ^ ^ ^. In the hypothetical example, the 转& ψ丝w成, 孓岭 f is taken out of the debit card information 4 and transmitted to -14 - 1275285, (9): the network. In step S14, the network determines whether the debit card authorization request is obtained. If so, the program design proceeds to step S12. If not, the program design proceeds to step 815 for receiving credit card data stored in the mobile unit 12 and transmitting to the network. If the authorization from the credit card providing company is received in step S16, the program design proceeds to step S12. If the credit card providing company does not agree to pay for the communication link, the program proceeds to step S17' to use the information representative of the next preferred payment provider (in this case, the provider of the calling card) Transfer to the network. 0 After the contact with the calling card provider, if the providing company agrees to bear the cost of the communication link, the program design proceeds to step S12. Or 'If the calling card provider company is unwilling to bear the fee', the program proceeds to step sl9, informing the user that there is no option to agree to accept and rejecting the user to pick up the communication link. Alternatively, the user may be provided with the last opportunity to manually enter information to identify other sources of payment (eg, another credit card). Although the specific embodiment of FIG. 3 can automatically switch to three alternative offering company options when the preferred or first in-line providing Luyue is not willing to bear the responsibility for paying the payment, without departing from the invention. In terms of scope and spirit, more or fewer alternative sources of payment can be used. In addition, any payment provider that is not in the example of Figure 3 can be replaced by a payment provider that is otherwise or otherwise added. Assume that at least one of the payment providing companies shown in Figure 3 agrees to accept the request. Then the program will enter the step $12 and will start -15- (10) Ϊ275285

For a one-way call, the detailed programming steps will be described in FIG. 4, and FIG. 4 - initially downloads information related to the service fee at step S20. This information may be limited to nPLMNm. #呼利 is in the diffuse mode when it is related to more than one PLMN. Step S21 will retrieve the payment information and check the available balance. For example, when the provider provides: a prepaid calling card or a special call to an individual call (or other type of connection): the information will be taken and the balance will be credited in step S22. I compares the service charges determined in step S20 to determine whether the balance is sufficient. If the balance is insufficient, the program will proceed to step (2).

Let the program design jump to the next A type, for example, the bean may return to the next preferred ^ 丨J ΤΓ 故 ( (for example, return to step S13 of Figure 3). If the balance is sufficient, the item μ, the spear δ, and the juice will proceed to step S24 to determine whether it is necessary to remind the group. This step is the same as step S4 in Fig. 2, whereby the path _ sequence 0 and the leaf shown in Fig. 4 can proceed to step S25 to remind the user of the available balance and the length of the call that can be used based on 余额. If the result of the decision in step S24 is 雹 , , ', to wake up and the paging group has been reminded in step S25, the result of the pager's response is checked at step ., /; k ^ S26. If the pager does not authorize the payment provider to be paid by the company, the program design will enter ^^/乡S27 to determine whether the user has to authorize different payment orders. For the company. It can be answered by simply pressing the correct button in the keypad 12a to simply "quasi" or "not allowed" by means of the specific embodiment of FIG. 2 herein and above. If the paging group does indeed request another payment provider* 16 - 1275285, (11) to pay for the general activity, the program proceeds to step S23 to be the same as described herein and above. The way to start these programming steps. If the user does not wish to request another payment provider to assume the payment request for the communication link, the program proceeds to step S28 to end the call. Going back to step S24, if the paging group does not need to be reminded, the private sequence design proceeds to step S29, where the network determines whether the paging group has a predetermined conditional restriction on the call. If there is no preset conditional restriction, the program design proceeds to step S3, whereby the payment can be provided to the company for payment information (including the authorized amount) to the network. The network calculates the allowed length of the call in accordance with the amount 4 authorized by the payment providing company in step S31, and reminds the paging group. In step S32, the network monitors the call. If it is determined in step S33 that the length of time has been reached, the program design proceeds to step s34 to determine whether the user authorizes an additional amount. If the user does not authorize an additional amount, the program proceeds to step S28 to end the call. If the pager authorizes an additional amount, the program design proceeds to step S35 to correct the authorized amount to the new authorized amount, and returns to step S30. If it is judged in the check program of step S33 that the time limit has not been exceeded, the program design loops back to step S32, and the loop is continuously repeated until the call is completed or the time limit is exceeded. The present invention is further capable of being provided by a preferred providing company and alternatives -17-!275285

In order to select the most cost-effective payment from the group of (12) companies, the user guarantees that the network will select the cheapest (or most cost-effective) payment provider for the user. FIG. 5 shows the technology. When the user initiates a one-way call as shown in step S1 of FIG. 2, the network is allowed to download information related to the service fee in step S37, for example, the pricing of the service type. Draw 4. Step S38 will take the payment information associated with the single or multiple payment providing companies. This information can be retrieved from sources known to the user or the Internet. For example, it can be retrieved from the user's local database or the current network's narrow domain database. Or you can search for services. Two of these technologies are SAP (Service Advertising Agreement) and NetBios (Network Basic Input and Output System). The Salutation Consortium (www.salutation.org) is a company that specializes in providing such services on the networks that are currently being developed. Information relating to the requested service (e. g., data, voice video high speed link and/or specified data rate) is then retrieved in step S39. Step S40 will take other factors related to the fee (e.g., what time, day of the week, location inside or outside the local network, etc.). Step S41 calculates the most economical service based on the information obtained in steps S37 to S40. The expected cost of the different options can be obtained by the following formula: time length/expected time length multiplication or data length/expected time length multiplied by the unit rate; or using a lookup table to query. An alternative to replacing the most cost-effective provider is to determine which payment provider can offer the most cost-effective offers to use the services provided by the provider. The way of giving back can be done by counting points, prizes, bonuses, etc., just like flying points. These calculations can also take into account the company's fees and preferences calculations in order to determine the most cost-effective -18-1275285 > '

Degree to the payment (13) payment provider. Step S42 may be sorted according to its relative money saving provider, and step S43 will first contact the most cost-effective payment provider to claim the payment of the user's payment. Although hot on the corpse / Γ,, ~ ~ 丨口峪 峪 无线 wireless link, however, should be noted that sometimes the link that requires payment may not be connected by the device to a specific access point chain road. For example, the keyway may include a ground connection and/or an RF connection to the medium (e.g., a satellite). Similarly, the link may be part of a terrestrial link and a part of a wireless link. However, the present invention can also be adapted to any such communication link. The present invention also allows a roaming operating company to agree with more than one local network when allowing automatic connection to the third group. This technology can also be used in applications where the customer has not purchased any special services or material group payment agreements (where more information is needed). In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the information provided by the sub-division (4) and the company may be stored in the pouch. At the same time, it should be understood that any other type of memory or storage means can be used to provide information, such as a universal card, a credit card or a smart card carrying information on a magnetic strip, and the devices can be inserted in a removable manner. Action list 2 ":: system, first; or transfer to the appropriate storage device equipped with the mobile unit = no): easy to transfer to the system later. Or 'the mobile unit can I, have - separate memory Body device, "Including..." is used to replace the information used by the knives to identify the cockroaches and can be transmitted to any place by any suitable component. In addition to the above methods, the information to distinguish the alternative payment providers can also be moved to the device that is not located in the required money (ie not -19. 1275285)

(14) [^M is included in the mobile unit 12). For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the information used to distinguish the alternative payment providing companies may be included in the proxy server of the underlying network. The proxy server may be part of the local PLMN 18 as shown in Figure 6, wherein the same elements in Figures 2 and 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the particular embodiment illustrated in Figure 6, the pager identity is transmitted to the network in step s. Step ^ will use the pager information to pick up the local PLMN 18. The local plmN 18 will pick up the proxy server (which may be the proxy server 24 at the local PLMN) to receive the alternate payment information of the pager by the pager identity to obtain a better or alternative Payment provides information about the company. The player identity can also be manually entered into the mobile unit by using a keypad, and the system can be used to access a database located at the far end of the pager's mobile unit to obtain the payment provider of the user. identity. If the authorization is not accepted, the paging group is required to authorize the money owed as in steps S3 and S4. After receiving the authorization in step 55, it is transmitted to the service providing company 20 at step S6 to complete the authorization request. After receiving the authorization in step S7, the key path is provided in step s8. After the call is completed, the transfer bill is provided in step S9, and mediation is performed in step S10. Devices seeking a communication link and establishing a payment provider can communicate with the device via a personal network (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11), which requires more information. Alternatively, data associated with the paging group can be stored in a server connected to the Internet or to the Internet. According to this • 20· 1275285

Let the local plmn access the server in the Internet to retrieve the replacement payment information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be better understood by reference to the detailed description and drawings in which: FIG. 1 is used to pay a prior art to a service providing company providing a communication link. Figure 2 is a flow chart of a communication system employing the techniques of the present invention. The more detailed flow chart shown in Figure 3 focuses on one of these multiple alternative payment methods. Xin Figure 4 is a flow diagram of the manner in which the communication system is used to control communications (i.e., calls). Figure 5 is a flow chart showing the manner in which the payment method is selected to stand in the user's position and to select the most cost-effective payment method for it. Figure 6 is a flow diagram of a particular embodiment of the present invention in which the user may request the communication system to obtain authorization from the user payment providing company to complete the communication link. Schematic representation of the symbol _ 12 mobile phone 12a small disk 14 user identity card group 16 visited public land network 18 local public land mobile network in October to provide a company 22 transfer card to provide a company -21 -

Claims (1)

1275285, 'All', 〆 Today, 乂, Ή - *<< ' X " , ' / y , , , s : \ , Negotiation _Slii_i ..., ... especially two, 历 历 历 : : ;::: face circle 1. A communication device configured to support a multi-payment option for a communication service received from a communication service provider, the communication device comprising: an information providing device for providing a plurality of information Information of the payment provider; and an activation device for initiating a communication link with a communication service provider such that the communication service provider pays the plurality of services from the communication service based on information from the information providing device Select a payment provider from among the payment providers. 2. The communication device of claim 1 further comprising a storage information device for storing information accessible by the information providing device. 3. The communication device of claim 2, wherein the information storage device is a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card. 4. The communication device of claim 3, wherein the SIM card is movably disposed in the communication device. 5. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the information providing device is configured to access information stored remotely from the communication device. 6. The communication device of claim 5, wherein the information providing device is configured to access information stored in a storage device of a communication network. 7. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the activation device for initiating a communication link with a communication service provider includes a device for authorizing the communication service before being provided The payment provider's payment selected by the communication service provider. 1275285 8. The communication device of the s ^ ^ ^ ' of claim 1, wherein the activation device for initiating a communication with a communication service provider includes a priority The payment processing provider provides the wife gs:, u L from the donor's device, so that the communication service provider selects the payment provider based on the priority order. 9. The communication device of claim 8, wherein the means for processing the payment provider in priority order is configured to perform priority processing based on information provided by the information providing device. 1 . The communication device of claim 8, wherein the device for processing the payment provider in priority order is configured to perform priority processing based on the information provided by the information providing device. U. The communication device of claim i, wherein the information providing device is configured to provide credit card information, debit card information, telephone card information, and prepaid calling card information. 1 2 · If you apply for a patent range! The communication device of the item is composed of a wireless telephone, a PDA, a personal computer (PC), a facsimile device and an automatic car. One of the device groups is configured.